Þul Manna 4^III

Þá es glæsimaðr         ok gullskati;
þá eru snyrtimenn         ok sælkerar,
auðkýfingar         ok oflátar,
herr ok helmingr         ok hǫfðingjar.

Þá es glæsimaðr ok gullskati; þá eru snyrtimenn ok sælkerar, auðkýfingar ok oflátar, herr ok helmingr ok hǫfðingjar.

Then there is illustrious man and gold-skati; then there are elegant men and affluent ones, money-bags and show-offs, army and band of warriors and chieftains.

Mss: R(42v), Tˣ(44v), C(11v), A(18r), B(8v), 744ˣ(64v) (SnE)

Readings: [2] ok: om. Tˣ    [3] þá eru: om. C, A, B;    snyrtimenn: om. C, snyrtimaðr B    [4] ok sælkerar: so Tˣ, om. R, C, ok sælingar A, ‘ok se᷎l[…]er[…]’ B, ‘ok se᷎lkerar’ 744ˣ    [5] auðkýfingar: so Tˣ, A, ok auðkýfingar R, auðkýfingr C, ‘[…]kýfingar’ B, ‘audkýfingar’ 744ˣ    [6] ok: om. Tˣ    [7] ok: om. Tˣ    [8] ok: om. Tˣ, ‘[…]’ B, ok 744ˣ;    hǫfðingjar: ‘[…]fdinngiar’ B, ‘ho᷎fdinngiar’ 744ˣ

Editions: Skj AI, 660, Skj BI, 662, Skald I, 326, NN §2160; SnE 1848-87, I, 559, II, 474, 558, 618, SnE 1931, 199, SnE 1998, I, 116.

Notes: [1] glæsimaðr ‘illustrious man’: From the weak verb glæsa ‘adorn, make shining’ and maðr m. ‘man’. The word occurs only in the present stanza and in Skm (SnE 1998, I, 106), where it is listed together with snyrtimaðr ‘elegant man’ and ofláti ‘show-off’. — [2] gullskati ‘gold-skati’: From gull- ‘gold’ and skati m. ‘towering, lordly man’ (cf. New Norw. skate ‘tree trunk’). The pl. form skatnar ‘men’ is a poetic term used frequently by the skalds. In Skm (SnE 1998, I, 106), the heiti is given among other terms for ‘generous man’, most of which are also listed either in this stanza (in the pl. form sælkerar ‘affluent ones’, l. 4, auðkýfingar ‘money-bags’, l. 5, hǫfðingjar ‘chieftains’ l. 8) or in the previous stanza (mildingr, mæringr, mannbaldr ‘munificent one, illustrious one, prince of men’, st. 3/7-8). — [4] sælkerar ‘affluent ones’: So Tˣ (and, most likely, B). This heiti is omitted in R and C and replaced by sælingr m. ‘wealthy one’ in A (the latter precedes sælkeri in the list in Skm). The confusion is presumably caused by the fact that l. 4 is a literal repetition of the last line of st. 1 (see Note there; cf. also oflátar ‘show-offs’  in l. 6 and st. 3/5). — [5] auðkýfingar ‘money-bags’: Lit. ‘heapers-up of wealth’ (SnE 1998, II, 237), from auðr m. ‘wealth’ and kúfr m. ‘heap above the brim of a vessel’ (cf. the weak verb kúfa ‘heap, fill over the brim’). — [7] helmingr ‘band of warriors’: Lit. ‘half’ (see AEW: helmingr, helmningr, helfningr). In poetry this word is used only as a term for ‘band of warriors, military unit’. Faulkes (SnE 1998, II, 307) suggests that the original meaning of this heiti may have been ‘helmeted troop’.

References

1. Bibliography
2. SnE 1848-87 = Snorri Sturluson. 1848-87. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar: Edda Snorronis Sturlaei. Ed. Jón Sigurðsson et al. 3 vols. Copenhagen: Legatum Arnamagnaeanum. Rpt. Osnabrück: Zeller, 1966.
3. Skald = Kock, Ernst Albin, ed. 1946-50. Den norsk-isländska skaldediktningen. 2 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
4. NN = Kock, Ernst Albin. 1923-44. Notationes Norrœnæ: Anteckningar till Edda och skaldediktning. Lunds Universitets årsskrift new ser. 1. 28 vols. Lund: Gleerup.
5. AEW = Vries, Jan de. 1962. Altnordisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2nd rev. edn. Rpt. 1977. Leiden: Brill.
6. SnE 1931 = Snorri Sturluson. 1931. Edda Snorra Sturlusonar. Ed. Finnur Jónsson. Copenhagen: Gyldendal.
7. SnE 1998 = Snorri Sturluson. 1998. Edda: Skáldskaparmál. Ed. Anthony Faulkes. 2 vols. University College London: Viking Society for Northern Research.
8. Internal references
9. (forthcoming), ‘ Snorri Sturluson, Skáldskaparmál’ in Kari Ellen Gade and Edith Marold (eds), Poetry from Treatises on Poetics. Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages 3. Turnhout: Brepols, p. . <https://skaldic.org/m.php?p=text&i=112> (accessed 2 May 2024)